CUSTOMERLOYALTY
DELIVERING ON COMMUNITY
W
hat does community mean to you? Our world is changing! I knew that there was a turning point when I was at my favorite restaurant I have been going to for 15 years and the owner says “Are you following us on Facebook?”
The traditional meaning of community has broadened to
communities look like? What can we do to put our best
include online groups who are aligned with a brand or
foot forward?
cause. Often these communities include a movement of customers raving about a particular product, or binding together to fight against a brand. As a company, what can you do to share in the building of your community?
Chris Brogan, President of Human Business Works, an online education and community company for small businesses and New York Times bestselling co-author of Trust Agents, says in his blog (www.chrisbrogan.com) that successful
As customers are collecting together on
communities will require authentic loyalty, to and from the
different social media landscapes
customer. However, he states “Oddly, loyalty programs of
like YouTube, Twitter,
today push the reverse of loyalty: sign up and we will beat
Facebook and
you with even more mail than people who casually swing by.
LinkedIn, what
Sign up and we’ll bother you until you buy. Sign up and we’ll
will the future of these
share your data with other people.” This has to shift. Membership in a customer community needs to be more of a shared value experience. Loyalty should mean “feeling like you’re on the inside” and gaining access to the exclusive benefits of the group, whether those benefits are as simple as information, or as “real” as discounts or other gifts. This emphasis on community puts more pressure on small businesses to take their brands online, but without someone to listen and correspond with community members, you leave your brand to chance. There are plenty of software packages that can make it easier to engage with clients and decrease the amount of time that it takes to stay involved. This is new territory for most businesses yet we are increasingly feeling pressure to participate.
by Apryl Hanson
bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership
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